Channel Conflict Growing in Video Business

There's always some tension between the economic interests of content owners and distributors of that content. Cable operators make their money one way; programmers another. So when Time Warner Cable CEO fires off a warning, that's just part of growing tensions in the video entertainment ecosystem.

"There is a model today for financing TV programming where the cable networks rely on subscription revenue as well as advertising revenue," says Britt. "As cable companies, we are in effect retailers; we buy programming wholesale, we put it in a package, and we sell it to subscribers."

But programming moving direct to Internet distribution will upset the current arrangements, he warns.

"Programmers shouldn't think that if they put the same content on the Internet for free, at the same time we're showing it, that we're going to pay the same wholesale price as we were paying before," Britt tells the Wall Street Journal.